1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,519 The Red Hill Sisterhood by C. L Pirkis they want you at Red Hill 2 00:00:05,639 --> 00:00:09,119 now, said mister Dyer, taking a packet of papers from one of his 3 00:00:09,199 --> 00:00:14,560 pigeon holes. The idea seems gaining ground in many quarters that in cases of 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:19,719 mere suspicion, women detectives are more satisfactory than men, for they are less 5 00:00:19,839 --> 00:00:23,679 likely to attract attention. And this Red Hill affair, so far as I 6 00:00:23,679 --> 00:00:28,359 can make out, is one of suspicion only. It was a dreary November 7 00:00:28,399 --> 00:00:32,479 morning. Every gas jet in the Lynch Court office was alight, and a 8 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:38,640 yellow curtain of outside fog draped its narrow windows. Nevertheless, I suppose one 9 00:00:38,719 --> 00:00:43,039 can't afford to leave it uninvestigated at this season of the year, with country 10 00:00:43,039 --> 00:00:47,880 house robberies beginning in so many quarters, said Miss Brook. No, and 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,679 the circumstances in this case certainly seemed to point in the direction of the country 12 00:00:51,679 --> 00:00:58,200 house burglar. Two days ago a somewhat curious application was made privately by a 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,640 man giving the name of John Murray to Inspector Gunning of the Reigate Police. 14 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,000 Redhill, I must tell you was in the Reigate Police district. Murray stated 15 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,000 that he had been a green grocer somewhere in South London, had sold his 16 00:01:11,079 --> 00:01:15,280 business there and had, with the proceeds of the sale, bought two small 17 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,920 houses in Redhill, intending to let the one and live in the other. 18 00:01:21,159 --> 00:01:25,799 These houses are situated in a blind alley known as Paved Court, a narrow 19 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,840 turning leading off the London and Brighton Coach Road. Paved Court has been known 20 00:01:30,879 --> 00:01:34,239 to the sanitary authorities for the past ten years as a regular fever nest, 21 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:40,400 and as the houses which Murray bought, numbers seven and eight, stand at 22 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,840 the very end of the blind alley with no chance of thorough ventilation. I 23 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:49,200 dare say the man got them for next to nothing. He told the inspector 24 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,200 that he had had great difficulty in procuring a tenant for the house he wished 25 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,680 to let number eight, and that consequently, when about three weeks back, 26 00:01:57,079 --> 00:02:00,920 a lady dressed as a nun made him an offer for it, he immediately 27 00:02:00,959 --> 00:02:06,959 closed with her. The lady gave her name simply as Sister Monica, and 28 00:02:07,079 --> 00:02:12,240 stated that she was a member of an undeenominational sisterhood that had recently been founded 29 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,560 by a wealthy lady who wished her name kept a secret sister Monica gave no 30 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:22,439 references, but instead paid a quarter's rent in advance, saying that she wished 31 00:02:22,439 --> 00:02:25,400 to take possession of the house immediately and opened it as a home for crippled 32 00:02:25,479 --> 00:02:31,400 orphans. Gave no references. Home for cripples, murmured Loveday, scribbling hard 33 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:37,360 and fast in her notebook. Murray made no objection to this, continued mister 34 00:02:37,439 --> 00:02:42,400 Dyer, And accordingly, the next day sister Monica, accompanied by three other 35 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,400 sisters and some sickly children, took possession of the house, which they furnished 36 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:52,879 with the barest possible necessities from cheap shops in the neighborhood. For a time, 37 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,479 Murray said he thought he had secured most desirable tenants, but during the 38 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,280 last ten days suspicions as to their real character have entered his mind, and 39 00:03:01,319 --> 00:03:07,039 these suspicions he thought it his duty to communicate to the police. Among their 40 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,639 possessions, it seems these sisters number an old donkey and a tiny cart, 41 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,360 and this they start daily on a sort of begging tour through the adjoining villages, 42 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:23,439 bringing back every evening a perfect horde of broken victuals and bundles of old 43 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:30,439 garments. Now comes the extraordinary fact on which Murray faces his suspicions. He 44 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:36,039 says, and Gunning verifies his statement, that in whatever direction these sisters turn 45 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,039 the wheels of their donkey cart, burglaries or attempts at burglaries are sure to 46 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:46,080 follow. A week ago they went along towards Horley, where at an outlying 47 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:51,919 house they receive much kindness from a wealthy gentleman. That very night an attempt 48 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,080 was made to break into that gentleman's house, an attempt, however, that 49 00:03:55,199 --> 00:04:00,199 was happily frustrated by the barking of the house dog. And so go on 50 00:04:00,319 --> 00:04:04,039 in other instances that I need not go into. Murray suggests that it might 51 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:09,039 be well to have the daily movements of these sisters closely watched, and that 52 00:04:09,199 --> 00:04:13,360 extra vigilance should be exercised by the police in the districts that have had the 53 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,240 honor of a morning call from them. Gunning coincides with this idea, and 54 00:04:17,319 --> 00:04:23,600 so has sent to me to secure your services. Loveday closed her notebook. 55 00:04:24,399 --> 00:04:27,720 I suppose Gunning will meet me somewhere and tell me where I'm to take up 56 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,759 my quarters, She said, yes, he will get into your carriage at 57 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:35,319 merseam the station before Redhill, if you will put your hand out of window 58 00:04:35,399 --> 00:04:40,439 with the morning paper in it by the way, he takes it for granted 59 00:04:40,439 --> 00:04:44,839 that you will save the eleven to five train from Victoria Murray. It seems 60 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,720 has been good enough to place his little house at the disposal of the police. 61 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,120 But Gunning does not think espionage could be so well carried on there as 62 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,560 from other quarters. The presence of a stranger in an alley of that sort 63 00:04:57,639 --> 00:05:00,079 is bound to attract attention. So he is hired a room for you in 64 00:05:00,079 --> 00:05:04,319 a draper's shop that immediately faces the head of the court. There is a 65 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:08,800 private door to this shop, of which you will have the key and can 66 00:05:08,879 --> 00:05:12,600 let yourself in and out as you please. You are supposed to be a 67 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,199 nursery governess on the lookout for a situation, and Gunning will keep you supplied 68 00:05:16,199 --> 00:05:20,600 with letters to give color to the idea. He suggests that you need only 69 00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:25,959 occupy the room during the day. At night you will find more comfortable quarters 70 00:05:25,959 --> 00:05:30,959 at Lakers Hotel, just outside the town. This was about the sum total 71 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,480 of the instructions that mister Dyer had to give the eleven to five train for 72 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:40,240 Victoria that carried Loveday to her work among the Surrey Hills, did not get 73 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,560 clear of the London fog till well away on the other side of Purley, 74 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,519 when the train halted immerse them. In response to her signal, a tall 75 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:53,040 soldier like individual made for her carriage, and, jumping in, took the 76 00:05:53,079 --> 00:05:58,439 seat facing her. He announced himself to her as Inspector. Gunning, recalled 77 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:00,800 to her memory a former occasion on which they had met, and then, 78 00:06:00,879 --> 00:06:06,079 naturally enough, turned the talk upon the present suspicious circumstances they were bent upon 79 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:11,079 investigating. It won't do for you and me to be seen together, he 80 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,959 said, of course, I am well known for miles round, and anyone 81 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,800 seen in my company will at once be set down as my coadjutor and spied 82 00:06:18,879 --> 00:06:23,680 upon. Accordingly, I walked from Red Hill to merse them, on purpose 83 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,519 to avoid recognition on the platform at Red Hill, and halfway here, to 84 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,040 my great annoyance, found that I was being followed by a man in a 85 00:06:30,079 --> 00:06:35,120 workman's dress and carrying a basket of tools. I doubled, however, and 86 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,680 gave him the slip, taking a short cut down a lane which, if 87 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,279 he had been living in the place he would have known as well as I 88 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,519 did. By jove, this was added with a sudden start. There is 89 00:06:46,519 --> 00:06:50,279 the fellow, I declare, he has weathered me after all, and has 90 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,759 no doubt taken good stock of us, both with a train going at this 91 00:06:54,879 --> 00:06:59,120 snail's pace. It was unfortunate that your face should have been turned towards that 92 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,560 window, Miss Brook. My veil is something of a disguise, and I 93 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,759 will put on another cloak before he has a chance of seeing me again, 94 00:07:05,879 --> 00:07:11,839 said Loveday. All she had seen in the brief glimpse that the train had 95 00:07:11,839 --> 00:07:15,279 allowed was a tall, powerfully built man walking along a siding of the line. 96 00:07:15,879 --> 00:07:19,120 His cap was drawn low over his eyes, and in his hand he 97 00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:26,079 carried a workman's basket. Gunning seemed much annoyed at the circumstance. Instead of 98 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,079 landing at Red Hill, he said, we'll go on to three bridges and 99 00:07:30,199 --> 00:07:32,800 wait there for a brighton train to bring us back. That will enable you 100 00:07:32,879 --> 00:07:36,319 to get to your room somewhere between the lights. I don't want to have 101 00:07:36,399 --> 00:07:41,439 you spotted before you so much as started your work. Then they went back 102 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,959 to their discussion of the Red Hill Sisterhood. They call themselves undenominational, whatever 103 00:07:46,079 --> 00:07:50,360 that means, said Gunning. They say they are connected with no religious sect 104 00:07:50,439 --> 00:07:56,759 whatever. They attend, sometimes one place of worship, sometimes another, sometimes 105 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,519 none at all. They refuse to give up the name of the founder of 106 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,120 their order, and really no one has any right to demand it of them, 107 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,920 for as no doubt you see, up to the present moment, the 108 00:08:07,959 --> 00:08:11,839 case is one of mere suspicion, and it may be a pure coincidence that 109 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,600 attempts at burglary have followed their footsteps in this neighborhood. By the way, 110 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,720 I have heard of a man's face being enough to hang him, But until 111 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,639 I saw Sister Monica's, I never saw a woman's face that could perform the 112 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,279 same kind office for her. Of all the lowest criminal types of faces I 113 00:08:28,319 --> 00:08:33,360 have ever seen, I think hers is about the lowest and most repulsive, 114 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,159 after the sisters. They passed in review the chief family's resident in the neighborhood. 115 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:45,600 This said Gunning, unfolding on paper, is a map I have specially 116 00:08:45,639 --> 00:08:48,720 drawn up for you. It takes in the district for ten miles round Redhill, 117 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,759 and every country house of any importance is marked in it in red ink. 118 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,559 Here. In addition, is an index to those houses, with special 119 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,240 notes of my own to every house. Loveday studied the map for a minute 120 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,159 or so, then turned her attention to the index. These four houses you've 121 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,399 marked, I see are those that have already been attempted. I don't think 122 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,559 I'll run them through, but I'll mark them doubtful. You see the gang, 123 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,320 for of course it is a gang might follow our reasoning on the matter 124 00:09:20,639 --> 00:09:24,240 and look upon those houses as our weak point. Here's one I'll run through. 125 00:09:24,759 --> 00:09:28,679 House empty during winter months. That means plate and jewelry sent to the 126 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:33,240 bankers. Oh, and this one may as well be crossed off. Father 127 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:39,559 and four sons, all athletes and sportsmen, and that means firearms always handy. 128 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,919 I don't think burglars will be likely to trouble them. Ah, now 129 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:48,120 we come to something. Here's a house to be marked tempting in a burglar's 130 00:09:48,159 --> 00:09:54,639 list. Wooton Hall lately changed hands and rebuilt, with complicated passages and quarters, 131 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,240 splendid family plate in daily use, and left entirely to the care of 132 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,159 the butler. I wonder does the master of the house trust to his complicated 133 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:09,200 passages to preserve his plate for him? He dismissed. A dishonest servant would 134 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,080 supply a dozen maps of the place for half a sovereign. What of these 135 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:18,759 initials E L against the next house in the list north cape stand for electric 136 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,279 lighted. I think you might almost cross that house off. Also, I 137 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:26,679 consider electric lighting one of the greatest safeguards against burglars that a man can give 138 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:33,279 his house. Yes, if he doesn't rely exclusively upon it, it might 139 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,399 be a nasty trap under certain circumstances. I see this gentleman also has a 140 00:10:37,399 --> 00:10:43,519 magnificent presentation and other plate. Yes, mister Jamieson is a wealthy man and 141 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,159 very popular in the neighborhood. His cups and appearentages are worth looking at. 142 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,799 Is it the only house in the district that is lighted with electricity? Yes, 143 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,919 And begging your pardon, miss Brooke, I only wish it were not 144 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,080 so. If electric lighting were generally in vogue, it would save the police 145 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:07,440 a lot of trouble on those dark winter nights. The burglars would find some 146 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,240 way of meeting such a condition. Of things depend upon it. They have 147 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,080 reached a very high development in these days. They no longer stalk about as 148 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,600 they did fifty years ago with blunderbusts and bludgeon. They plot, plan, 149 00:11:20,799 --> 00:11:24,919 contrive, and bring imagination and artistic resource to their aid. By the way, 150 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,440 it often occurs to me that the popular detective stories for which there seems 151 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:35,240 so large demand at the present day, must be at times uncommonly useful to 152 00:11:35,279 --> 00:11:39,279 the criminal classes. At Three Bridges, they had to wait so long for 153 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,120 a return train that it was nearly dark when Loveday got back to Redhill. 154 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,320 Mister Gunning did not accompany her thither, having alighted at a previous station. 155 00:11:50,399 --> 00:11:54,960 Loveday had directed her portmanteau to be sent in direct to Lakers Hotel, where 156 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,960 she had engaged a room by telegram from Victoria Station. So unburdened by law 157 00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:03,879 luggage, she slipped quietly out of the Red Hill station and made her way 158 00:12:03,919 --> 00:12:07,360 straight for the draper shop in the London Road. She had no difficulty in 159 00:12:07,399 --> 00:12:13,200 finding it, thanks to the minute directions given her by the inspector. Street 160 00:12:13,279 --> 00:12:16,759 lamps were being lighted in the sleepy little town as she went along, and 161 00:12:16,799 --> 00:12:20,799 as she turned into the London Road, shopkeepers were lighting up their windows on 162 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:26,000 both sides of the way. A few yards down this road, a dark 163 00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:30,120 patch between the lighted shops showed her where a paved court led off from the 164 00:12:30,159 --> 00:12:33,440 thoroughfare. A side door of one of the shops that stood at the corner 165 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,720 of the court seemed to offer a post of observation. Whence she could see 166 00:12:37,759 --> 00:12:43,000 without being seen. And here Loveday, shrinking into the shadows, ensconced herself 167 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,279 in order to take stock of the little alley and its inhabitants. She found 168 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,799 it much as it had been described to her, a collection of four roomed 169 00:12:52,799 --> 00:12:56,279 houses, of which more than half were unlet. Numbers seven and eight at 170 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:01,080 the head of the court presented a slightly less neglect appearance then the other tenements. 171 00:13:01,919 --> 00:13:05,600 Number seven stood in total darkness. But in the upper window of number 172 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,960 eight there showed what seemed to be a night light burning. So Loveday conjectured 173 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,279 that this possibly was the room set apart as a dormitory for the little cripples. 174 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,080 While she stood thus surveying the home of the suspected sisterhood, the sisters 175 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,320 themselves, to at least of them, came into view with their donkey cart 176 00:13:24,399 --> 00:13:28,799 and their cripples in the main road. It was an odd little cortege one 177 00:13:28,879 --> 00:13:33,240 sister, habited in a nun's dress of dark blue serge, led the donkey 178 00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:39,480 by the bridle. Another sister similarly attired, walked alongside the low cart, 179 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,759 at which were seated two sickly looking children. They were evidently returning from one 180 00:13:43,799 --> 00:13:48,399 of the long country circuits, and unless they had lost their way and had 181 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,600 been belated, it certainly seemed a late hour for the sickly little cripples to 182 00:13:52,639 --> 00:13:56,559 be abroad. As they passed under the gas light at the corner of the 183 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:01,200 court, Loveday caught a glimpse of the faces of the sisters. It was 184 00:14:01,279 --> 00:14:05,200 easy, with Inspector Gunning's description before her mind, to identify the older and 185 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:11,840 taller woman as sister Monica, and a more coarse featured and generally repellent face, 186 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:16,440 Loveday admitted to herself she had never before seen. In striking contrast to 187 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:22,440 this forbidding countenance was that of the younger sister. Loveday could only catch a 188 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,480 brief passing view of it, but that one brief view was enough to impress 189 00:14:26,519 --> 00:14:31,000 it on her memory as of unusual sadness and beauty. As the donkey stopped 190 00:14:31,039 --> 00:14:35,919 at the corner of the court, Loveday heard this sad looking young woman addressed 191 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,159 as sister Anna by one of the cripples, who asked plaintively when they were 192 00:14:39,159 --> 00:14:43,759 going to have something to eat now? At once said sister Anna, lifting 193 00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:48,639 the little one, as it seemed a Loveday tenderly out of the cart and 194 00:14:48,759 --> 00:14:52,039 carrying him on her shoulder down the court to the door of number eight, 195 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,440 which opened to them at their approach. The other sister did the same with 196 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,559 the other child. Then both sisters returned a loaded the cart to sundry bundles 197 00:15:01,559 --> 00:15:05,320 and baskets, and this dune led off the old donkey and trapped down the 198 00:15:05,399 --> 00:15:09,519 road, possibly to a neighboring costermonger's stables. A man coming along on a 199 00:15:09,559 --> 00:15:15,080 bicycle exchanged a word of greeting with the sisters as they passed, then swung 200 00:15:15,159 --> 00:15:18,879 himself off his machine at the corner of the court and walked it along the 201 00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:22,639 paved road to the door of number seven. This he opened with a key, 202 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,600 and then, pushing the machine before him, entered the house. Loveday 203 00:15:26,679 --> 00:15:31,200 took it for granted that this man must be the John Murray of whom she 204 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,519 had heard she had closely scrutinized him as he had passed her, and had 205 00:15:35,559 --> 00:15:37,679 seen that he was a dark, well featured man of about fifty years of 206 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:43,120 age. She congratulated herself on her good fortune in having seen so much in 207 00:15:43,159 --> 00:15:46,960 a brief space of time, and, coming forth from her sheltered corner, 208 00:15:48,399 --> 00:15:50,519 turned her steps in the direction of the draper shop on the other side of 209 00:15:50,559 --> 00:15:56,360 the road. It was easy to find it. Go Lightly was the singular 210 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,960 name that figured above the shop front, in which were displayed of a riot 211 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,720 of goods calculated to meet the wants of servants and the poorer classes generally. 212 00:16:04,759 --> 00:16:08,200 A tall, powerfully built man appeared to be looking in at this window. 213 00:16:10,039 --> 00:16:14,240 Loveday's foot was on the doorstep of the draper's private entrance, her hand on 214 00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:18,879 the door knocker, when this individual, suddenly turning, convinced her of his 215 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:25,000 identity with the journeyman workman who had so disturbed mister Gunning's equanimity. It was 216 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,720 true he wore a bowler instead of a journeyman's cap, and he no longer 217 00:16:27,759 --> 00:16:33,200 carried a basket of tools. But there was no possibility for any one with 218 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,960 so good an eye for an outline as Loveday possessed not to recognize the carriage 219 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,519 of the head and shoulders as that of the man she had seen walking along 220 00:16:41,559 --> 00:16:45,240 the railway siding. He gave her no time to make minute observations of his 221 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:52,399 appearance, but turned quickly away and disappeared down a by street. Loveday's work 222 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,720 seemed to bristle with difficulties. Now Here was she, as it were, 223 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:02,039 unearthed in her own ambush, For there could be but little doubt that during 224 00:17:02,039 --> 00:17:06,160 the whole time she had stood watching those sisters, that man from a safe 225 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,839 vantage point had been watching her. She found missus Golightly, a civil and 226 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,519 obliging person. She showed Loveday to her room above the shop, brought her 227 00:17:15,559 --> 00:17:18,079 the letters which inspect her gunning had been careful to have posted to her during 228 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,920 the day. Then she supplied her with pen and ink, and, in 229 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,720 response to Loveday's request, with some strong coffee that, she said, with 230 00:17:26,799 --> 00:17:30,519 a little attempt at a joke, would keep a dormouse awake all through the 231 00:17:30,519 --> 00:17:36,559 winter without winking. While the obliging landlady busied herself about the room, Loveday 232 00:17:36,559 --> 00:17:40,680 had a few questions to ask about the sisterhood who lived down the court opposite 233 00:17:41,559 --> 00:17:45,319 on this head, However, missus Golightly could tell her no more than she 234 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,279 already knew, beyond the fact that they started every morning on the rounds at 235 00:17:48,319 --> 00:17:52,640 eleven o'clock punctually, and that before that hour they were never to be seen 236 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:57,960 outside their door. Loveday's watch that night was to be a fruitless one. 237 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:03,519 Although she, with her lamp turned out and safely screened from observation until close 238 00:18:03,599 --> 00:18:07,480 upon midnight, with eyes fixed upon numbers seven and eight, paved court, 239 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,880 not so much as the door opening or shutting at either house rewarded her vigil. 240 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:17,160 The lights flitted from the lower to the upper floors in both houses, 241 00:18:17,599 --> 00:18:22,279 and then disappeared somewhere between nine and ten in the evening. And after that 242 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,799 not a sign of life did either tenement show, And all through the long 243 00:18:26,839 --> 00:18:30,000 hours of that watch, backwards and forwards there seemed to flit before her mind's 244 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,759 eye, as if in some sort it were fixed upon its retina, the 245 00:18:33,839 --> 00:18:38,960 sweet sad face of sister Anna. Why it was this face should so haunt 246 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,960 her? She found it hard to say. It has a mournful past and 247 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,440 a mournful future written upon it. As a hopeless hole. She said to 248 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,720 herself. It is the face of an andromeda. Here I am, it 249 00:18:51,759 --> 00:18:56,839 seemed to say, tied to my stake, helpless and hopeless. The church 250 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,400 clocks were sounding the midnight hour as love Day made her way through the dark 251 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:06,640 streets to her hotel outside the town. As she passed under the railway archs 252 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:11,039 that ended in the open country road, the echo of not very distant footsteps 253 00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:15,440 caught her ear. When she stopped, they stopped, and when she went 254 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,759 on, they went on, And she knew that once more she was being 255 00:19:18,799 --> 00:19:22,119 followed and watched, although the darkness of the arch prevented her seeing even the 256 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:26,240 shadow of the man who was thus dogging her steps. The next morning, 257 00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:32,359 broke keen and frosty. Loveday studied her map and her country house index over 258 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,319 a seven o'clock breakfast, and then set off for a brisk walk along the 259 00:19:36,319 --> 00:19:40,039 country road. No doubt, in London, the streets were walled in and 260 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:44,839 roofed with yellow fog. Here, however, bright sunshine played in and out 261 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:49,359 of the bare tree boughs and leafless hedges onto a thousand frost spangles, turning 262 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:56,240 a prosaic matchamized road into a gangway fit for a Queen Titania, herself and 263 00:19:56,279 --> 00:20:00,039 her ferry train. Loveday turned her back on the town and set herself to 264 00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:03,200 follow the road as it wound away over the hill in the direction of a 265 00:20:03,279 --> 00:20:08,759 village called Northfield. Early as she was, she was not to have that 266 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:14,480 road to herself. A team of strong horses trudged on their way to their 267 00:20:14,519 --> 00:20:18,240 work in the full earth's pits. A young fellow on a bicycle flashed past 268 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:23,079 at a tremendous pace. Considering the upward slant of the road, he looked 269 00:20:23,079 --> 00:20:29,039 hard at her as he passed, then slackened paste dismounted, and awaited her 270 00:20:29,079 --> 00:20:33,640 coming on the brow of the hill. Good morning, miss Brooke, he 271 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,160 said, lifting his cap, as she came alongside of him. May I 272 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,119 have five minutes talk with you? The young man who thus accosted her had 273 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,039 not the appearance of a gentleman. He was a handsome, bright faced young 274 00:20:45,039 --> 00:20:49,400 fellow of about two and twenty, and was dressed in ordinary cyclist's dress. 275 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,960 His cap was pushed back from his brow over thick, curly fair hair, 276 00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:59,279 and Loveday, as she looked at him, could not repress the thought how 277 00:20:59,279 --> 00:21:02,319 well he would look at the head of a troop of cavalry, giving the 278 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:06,440 order to charge the enemy. He led his machine to the side of the 279 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:11,079 footpath. You have the advantage of me, said Loveday. I haven't the 280 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:15,160 remotest notion who you are. No, he said, although I know you, 281 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,200 you cannot possibly know me. I am a North countryman, and I 282 00:21:19,279 --> 00:21:23,359 was present about a month ago at the trial of old mister Craven of Troits 283 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,480 Hill. In fact, I acted as reporter for one of the local papers. 284 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,680 I watched your face so closely as you gave your evidence that I should 285 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:37,319 know it anywhere among a thousand and Your name is George White of Grenfell. 286 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,000 My father is part proprietor of one of the Newcastle papers. I am a 287 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,880 bit of a literary man myself, and sometimes figure as a reporter, sometimes 288 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:52,319 as leader writer to the paper. Here he gave a glance toward his side 289 00:21:52,319 --> 00:21:56,799 pocket, from which protruded a small volume of Tennyson's poems. The facts he 290 00:21:56,839 --> 00:22:02,119 had stated did not seem to invite comment and love. They ejaculated merely. 291 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,759 Indeed, the young man went back to the subject that was evidently filling his 292 00:22:06,839 --> 00:22:11,000 thoughts. I have special reasons for being glad to have met you this morning, 293 00:22:11,039 --> 00:22:15,000 Miss Brooke, He went on, making his footsteps keep pace with hers. 294 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,720 I am in great trouble, and I believe you are the only person 295 00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:22,960 in the whole world that can help me out of that trouble. I am 296 00:22:22,039 --> 00:22:26,279 rather doubtful as to my power of helping any one out of trouble, said 297 00:22:26,319 --> 00:22:30,119 Loveday. So far as my experience goes, our troubles are as much a 298 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,680 part of ourselves as our skins are of our bodies. Ah, but not 299 00:22:34,799 --> 00:22:38,839 such trouble as mine, said White eagerly. He broke off for a moment, 300 00:22:40,279 --> 00:22:41,920 then, with a sudden rush of words, told her what the trouble 301 00:22:42,079 --> 00:22:47,440 was. For the past year, he had been engaged to be married to 302 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:52,240 a young girl who until quite recently had been fulfilling the duties of a nursery 303 00:22:52,279 --> 00:22:56,599 governess in a large house in the neighborhood of Redhill. Will you kindly give 304 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:02,000 me the name of that house, interrupted Loveday. Certainly, Wooton Hall. 305 00:23:02,079 --> 00:23:04,920 The place is called, and Annie Lee is my sweetheart's name. I don't 306 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,200 care who knows it. He threw his head back as he said this, 307 00:23:08,799 --> 00:23:12,160 as if he would be delighted to denounce the fact to the whole world. 308 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,839 Annie's mother, he went on, died when she was a baby, and 309 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,680 we both thought her father was dead also, when suddenly, about a fortnight 310 00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:25,400 ago, it came to her knowledge that instead of being dead, he was 311 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:30,079 serving his time at Portland for some offense committed years ago. Do you know 312 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,960 how this came to Annie's knowledge? Not the least in the world. I 313 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,839 only know that I suddenly got a letter from her announcing the fact and at 314 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:44,640 the same time breaking off her engagement with me. I tore the letter into 315 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,720 a thousand pieces and wrote back saying I would not allow the engagement to be 316 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,960 broken off, but would marry her tomorrow if she would have me. To 317 00:23:52,039 --> 00:23:56,119 this letter, she did not reply. There came instead a few lines from 318 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,400 Missus Copeland, the lady at Wooton Hall, saying that Annie had thrown up 319 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:06,599 her engagement and joined some sisterhood, and that she, Missus Copeland, had 320 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,720 pledged her word to Annie to reveal to no one the name and whereabouts of 321 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,079 that sisterhood. And I suppose you imagine I am able to do what Missus 322 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,920 Copeland is pledged not to do. That's just it. Miss Brooke, cried 323 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:25,319 the young man enthusiastically. You do such wonderful things. Everyone knows you do. 324 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,079 It seems as if when anything is wanted to be found out, you 325 00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:33,960 just walk into a place, look round you, and in a moment everything 326 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:38,119 becomes clear as noonday. I can't quite lay claim to such wonderful powers as 327 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,799 that as it happens. However, in the present instance, no particular skill 328 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:47,240 is needed to find out what you wish to know. For I fancy I 329 00:24:47,279 --> 00:24:52,359 have already come upon the traces of Miss Annie Lee, Miss Brooke. Of 330 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,440 course I cannot say for certain, but it is a matter you can easily 331 00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:00,240 settle for yourself. Settle too, in a way that will confer a great 332 00:25:00,279 --> 00:25:04,720 obligation on me. I shall be only too delighted to be of any the 333 00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:10,839 slightest service to you, cried White enthusiastically. As before, thank you. 334 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,079 I will explain. I came down here specially to watch the movements of a 335 00:25:15,079 --> 00:25:21,160 certain sisterhood who have somehow aroused the suspicions of the police. Well, I 336 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,920 find that instead of being able to do this, I am myself so closely 337 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:29,720 watched, possibly by confederates of these sisters, that unless I can do my 338 00:25:29,759 --> 00:25:33,119 work by deputy, I may as well go back to town at once. 339 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:38,039 Ah, I see you want me to be that deputy. Precisely, I 340 00:25:38,079 --> 00:25:41,319 want you to go to the room in Redhill that I have hired, take 341 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,480 your place at the window, screened of course from observation, at which I 342 00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,720 ought to be seated, Watch as closely as possible the movements of these sisters, 343 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,079 and report them to me at the hotel, where I shall remain shut 344 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,640 in from morning till night. It is the only way in which I can 345 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,839 throw my persistent spies off the scent. Now, in doing this for me, 346 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,799 you will also be doing yourself a good turn. For I have little 347 00:26:04,799 --> 00:26:08,920 doubt but what under the blue surgeonhood of one of the sisters you will discover 348 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,640 the pretty face of miss Annie Lee. As they had talked, they had 349 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,039 walked and now stood on the top of the hill at the head of the 350 00:26:18,039 --> 00:26:22,799 one little street that constituted the whole of the village of Northfield, on their 351 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,640 left hands to the village schools and the master's house, nearly facing these on 352 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,839 the opposite side of the road, beneath a clump of elms, to the 353 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,960 village pound beyond this pound. On either side of the way were two rows 354 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:40,319 of small cottages with tiny squares of garden in front, and in the midst 355 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:45,039 of these small cottages, a swinging sign beneath a lamp announced a postal and 356 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,440 telegraph office. Now that we have come into the land of habitations, again, 357 00:26:49,559 --> 00:26:53,279 said Loveday, it would be best for us to part. It will 358 00:26:53,319 --> 00:26:56,880 not do for you and me to be seen together, or my spies will 359 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,799 be transferring their attentions from me to you, and I shall have to find 360 00:27:00,839 --> 00:27:06,160 another deputy. You had better start on your bicycle for Redhill at once, 361 00:27:06,599 --> 00:27:10,279 and I will walk back at leisurely speed. Come to me at my hotel 362 00:27:10,319 --> 00:27:15,319 without fail at one o'clock and report proceedings. I do not say anything definite 363 00:27:15,319 --> 00:27:18,799 about remuneration, but I assure you, if you carry out my instructions to 364 00:27:18,839 --> 00:27:23,480 the letter, your services will be amply rewarded by me and by my employers. 365 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,839 There were yet a few more details to arrange. White had been He 366 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,240 said, only a day and night in the neighborhood, and special directions as 367 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,480 to the locality had to be given to him. Love They advised him not 368 00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:41,799 to attract attention by going to the draper's private door, but to enter the 369 00:27:41,839 --> 00:27:47,240 shop as if he were a customer, and then explain matters to missus Golightly, 370 00:27:47,599 --> 00:27:51,440 who no doubt would be in her place behind the counter. Tell her 371 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,400 that he was the brother of the miss Smith who had hired her room, 372 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,039 and asked permission to go through the shop to that room, as he had 373 00:27:57,039 --> 00:28:00,440 been commissioned by his sister to read an abid answer any letters that might have 374 00:28:00,519 --> 00:28:06,359 arrived there for her. Show her the key of the side door here it 375 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:10,279 is, said Loveday. It will be your credentials, and tell her you 376 00:28:10,319 --> 00:28:12,240 did not like to make use of it without acquainting her with the fact. 377 00:28:14,079 --> 00:28:17,839 The young man took the key, endeavored to put it in his waistcoat pocket, 378 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,640 found the space there occupied, and so transverred it to the keeping of 379 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:26,240 a side pocket in his tunic. All this time Loveday stood watching him. 380 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,279 You have a capital machine there, she said, as the young man mounted 381 00:28:30,279 --> 00:28:34,039 his bicycle once more, and I hope you will turn it to account in 382 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:38,720 following the movements of these sisters about the neighborhood. I feel confident you will 383 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,960 have something definite to tell me when you bring me your first report at one 384 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:47,680 o'clock, White once more broke into a profusion of thanks, and then lifting 385 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,119 his cap to the lady, started his machine at a fairly good pace. 386 00:28:52,119 --> 00:28:55,519 Loveday watched him out of sight down the slope of the hill. Then, 387 00:28:55,559 --> 00:28:59,400 instead of following him as she had said she would, at a leisurely pace, 388 00:29:00,119 --> 00:29:03,319 she turned her steps in the opposite direction. Along the village street. 389 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,799 It was an altogether ideal country village. Neatly dressed, chubby faced children now 390 00:29:08,839 --> 00:29:14,119 on their way to the schools, dropped quaint little curtseys or tugged at curly 391 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,400 forelocks. As Loveday passed, Every cottage looked a picture of cleanliness and trimness, 392 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,279 and although so late in the year, the gardens were full of late 393 00:29:22,319 --> 00:29:29,279 flowering chrysanthemums and early flowering Christmas roses. At the end of the village, 394 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,240 Loveday came suddenly into view of a large, handsome, red brick mansion. 395 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,200 It presented a wide frontage to the road from which it lay back amid extensive 396 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:41,799 pleasure grounds. On the right hand, and a little in the rear of 397 00:29:41,839 --> 00:29:45,759 the house stood what seemed to be large and commodious stables, and immediately Adjoining 398 00:29:45,799 --> 00:29:51,279 these stables was a low cut red brick shed that had evidently been recently erected. 399 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:57,319 That low built red brick shed excited Loveday's curiosity. Is this house called 400 00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:00,599 North Cape? She asked of a man who chanced at that moment to be 401 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:06,759 passing with a pickaxe and shovel. The man answered in the affirmative, and 402 00:30:06,839 --> 00:30:11,480 Loveday then asked another question. Could he tell her what was that small shed 403 00:30:11,599 --> 00:30:15,599 so close to the house. It looked like a glorified cow shed. Now, 404 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,920 what could be its use? The man's face lighted up, as if 405 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:23,039 it were a subject on which he liked to be questioned. He explained that 406 00:30:23,039 --> 00:30:27,480 that small shed was the engine house where the electricity that lighted North Cape was 407 00:30:27,519 --> 00:30:33,000 made and stored. Then he dwelt with pride upon the fact, as if 408 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,720 he held a personal interest in it, that North Cape was the only house 409 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:41,759 far or near that was thus lighted. I suppose the wires are carried under 410 00:30:41,759 --> 00:30:45,160 ground to the house, said Loveday, looking in vain for signs of them 411 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,000 anywhere. The man was delighted to go into details on the matter. He 412 00:30:49,079 --> 00:30:53,039 had helped delay those wires. He said they were two in number one for 413 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,880 supply and one for return, and were laid three feet below ground in boxes 414 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:03,319 filled with pitch. These wires were switched on to jars in the engine house 415 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,440 where the electricity was stored, and after passing underground, entered the family mansion 416 00:31:07,519 --> 00:31:14,119 under its flooring at its western end. Loveday listened attentively to these details, 417 00:31:14,519 --> 00:31:18,559 and then took a minute and leisurely survey of the house and its surroundings. 418 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,039 This done, she retraced her steps to the village, pausing, however, 419 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,839 at the postal and Telegraph office to dispatch a telegram to inspect her gunning. 420 00:31:29,319 --> 00:31:32,559 It was one to send the inspector to his cipher book. It ran, 421 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:37,839 as followed, relies solely on chemist and coal merchant throughout the day. L 422 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:44,000 b after this she quickened her pace and in something over three quarters of an 423 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,400 hour was back again at her hotel. There she found more of life stirring 424 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,519 than when she had quitted it. In the early morning, there was to 425 00:31:51,559 --> 00:31:55,480 be a meeting of the Surrey Stags about a couple of miles off, and 426 00:31:55,519 --> 00:31:59,359 a good many hunting men were hanging about the entrance to the house discussing the 427 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:04,440 chances of after last night's frost, Loveday made her way through the throng in 428 00:32:04,559 --> 00:32:08,039 leisurely fashion, and not a man but wanted keen scrutiny from her sharp eyes. 429 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,359 No, there was no cause for suspicion. There they were, evidently 430 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,839 one in all, just what they seemed to be, loud voiced, hard 431 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:22,599 riding men bent on a day's sport. But and here Loveday's eyes traveled beyond 432 00:32:22,599 --> 00:32:25,400 the hotel courtyard to the other side of the road. Who was that man 433 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:30,599 with a bill hook hacking at the hedge? There a thin featured, round 434 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,079 shouldered old fellow with a bent about hat. It might be as well not 435 00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:37,960 to take it too rashly, for granted that her spies was drawn and had 436 00:32:38,039 --> 00:32:43,519 left her free to do her work in her own fashion, she went upstairs 437 00:32:43,519 --> 00:32:45,920 to her room, it was situated on the first floor in the front of 438 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:51,519 the house, and consequently commanded a good view of the high road. She 439 00:32:51,559 --> 00:32:54,319 stood well back from the window and in an angle when she could see and 440 00:32:54,400 --> 00:33:00,359 not be seen, took a long, steady survey of the hedger. Longer 441 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:04,279 she looked, the more convinced she was that the man's real work was something 442 00:33:04,319 --> 00:33:07,599 other than the bill hook seemed to apply. He worked so to speak with 443 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:12,920 his head over his shoulder, and when Loveday supplemented her eyesight with a strong 444 00:33:13,039 --> 00:33:16,480 field glass, she could see more than one stealthy glance shot from beneath his 445 00:33:16,599 --> 00:33:22,279 bent about hat in the direction of her window. There could be little doubt 446 00:33:22,279 --> 00:33:24,960 about it. Her movements were to be as closely watched today as they had 447 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:30,279 been yesterday. Now it was of first importance that she should communicate with Inspector 448 00:33:30,319 --> 00:33:35,799 Gunning in the course of the afternoon. The question to solve was how it 449 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:42,079 was to be done To all appearance. Loveday answered the question in extraordinary fashion. 450 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,799 She pulled up her blind, she drew back her curtain, and seated 451 00:33:45,839 --> 00:33:51,440 herself in full view at a small table in the window recess. Then she 452 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,559 took a pocket inkstand from her pocket, a packet of correspondence cards from her 453 00:33:54,599 --> 00:33:58,880 letter case, and with a rapid pen, set to work on them. 454 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,519 About an hour and a half afterwards, White, coming in according to his 455 00:34:02,559 --> 00:34:07,239 promise to report proceedings, found her still seated at the window, not however, 456 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,880 with writing materials before her, but with needle and thread in her hand, 457 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:15,960 with which she was mending her gloves. I returned to town by the 458 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:20,039 first train tomorrow morning, she said, as he entered, and I find 459 00:34:20,079 --> 00:34:24,760 these wretched things want no end of stitches. Now for your report. White 460 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:29,800 appeared to be in an elated frame of mind. I've seen her, he 461 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:34,960 cried, my auntie. They've got her, those confounded sisters, but they 462 00:34:35,079 --> 00:34:37,679 shan't keep her. No, not if I have to pull the house down 463 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:43,199 about their ears to get her out. Well, now you know where she 464 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,440 is, you can take your time about getting her out, said Loveday. 465 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:51,280 I hope, however, you haven't broken faith with me and betrayed yourself by 466 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,280 trying to speak with her, because if so, I shall have to look 467 00:34:54,320 --> 00:35:00,840 for another deputy, honor, Miss Brooke, answered White and dignantly. I 468 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,800 stuck to my duty, though it cost me something to see her hanging over 469 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,920 those kids and tucking them into the cart, and never say a word to 470 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:13,400 her, never so much as wave my hand. Did she go out with 471 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,119 a donkey cart today? No? She only tucked the kids into the cart 472 00:35:17,159 --> 00:35:22,400 with a blanket, and then went back in the house. Two old sisters, 473 00:35:22,559 --> 00:35:25,079 ugliest sin went out with them. I watched them from the window. 474 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:30,880 J jolt round the corner out of sight, and then I whipped down the 475 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:35,480 stairs onto my machine and was after them in a trice, and managed to 476 00:35:35,559 --> 00:35:38,559 keep them well in sight for over an hour and a half. And their 477 00:35:38,599 --> 00:35:45,800 destination today was Wooton hall Ah, just as I expected, Just as you 478 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:51,559 expected, echoed White. I forgot. You do not know the nature of 479 00:35:51,599 --> 00:35:54,760 the suspicions that are attached to this sisterhood, and the reasons I have for 480 00:35:54,880 --> 00:36:00,880 thinking that wooton hall at this season of the year might have an especial for 481 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:05,679 them. White continued, staring at her, Miss Brooke. He said, 482 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,079 presently, in an altered tone, what of her suspicions may attach to the 483 00:36:09,199 --> 00:36:14,360 sisterhood? I'll stake my life on it. My auntie has had no share 484 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:19,519 in any wickedness of any sort. Oh quite so. It is most likely 485 00:36:19,599 --> 00:36:23,599 that your Annie has in some way been inveigled into adjoining these sisters, has 486 00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:28,280 been taken possession of by them, in fact, just as they have taken 487 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,920 possession of the little cripples. That's it, that's it, he cried. 488 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,400 That was the idea that occurred to me when you spoke to me on the 489 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,320 hill about them. Otherwise, you may be sure did they get relief of 490 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:45,960 any sort at the hall, interrupted loveday? Yes, one of the two 491 00:36:45,079 --> 00:36:50,440 ugly old women stopped outside the lodge gates with the donkey cart, and the 492 00:36:50,519 --> 00:36:53,239 other beauty went up to the house alone. She stayed there, I should 493 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,920 think about a quarter of an hour, and when she came back, was 494 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,760 followed by a servant carrying a bundle and a basket. Ah, I've no 495 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:07,400 doubt they brought away with them something else besides old garments and broken victuals. 496 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:10,639 White stood in front of her, fixing a hard, steady gaze upon her, 497 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,039 Miss Brooke. He said, presently, in a voice that matched the 498 00:37:15,039 --> 00:37:20,079 look on his face. What do you suppose was the real object of these 499 00:37:20,119 --> 00:37:25,000 women in going to Wooton Hall this morning? Mister White? If I wish 500 00:37:25,079 --> 00:37:30,280 to help a gang of thieves break into Wooton Hall tonight, don't you think 501 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,920 I should be greatly interested in procuring for them the information that the master of 502 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,480 the house was away from home, that two of the men servants who slept 503 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:43,840 in the house had recently been dismissed and their places had not yet been filled. 504 00:37:44,639 --> 00:37:47,599 Also that the dogs were never unchained at night, and that their kennels 505 00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:52,639 were at the side of the house at which the butler's pantry is not situated. 506 00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:57,559 These are particulars I have gathered in this house without stirring from my chair, 507 00:37:58,119 --> 00:38:00,800 and I am satisfied that they are likely to be true. At the 508 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:06,159 same time, if I were a professed burglar, I should not be content 509 00:38:06,199 --> 00:38:09,400 with information that was likely to be true, but would be careful to procure 510 00:38:09,519 --> 00:38:14,519 such that was certain to be true, and so had set accomplices to work 511 00:38:14,559 --> 00:38:19,679 at the fountain head. Now do you understand, White folded his arms and 512 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,639 looked down on her. What are you going to do, he asked in 513 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:29,400 short, brusque tones. Loveday looked him full in the face. Communicate with 514 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,800 the police immediately, she answered. And I should feel greatly obliged if you 515 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:37,880 would at once take a note from me to inspect her gunning at Reigate and 516 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:43,760 what becomes of Annie. I don't think that you need have any anxiety on 517 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,760 that head. I have no doubt that when the circumstances of her admission to 518 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:52,239 the Sisterhood are investigated, it will be proved that she has been as much 519 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:57,239 deceived and imposed upon as the man John Murray who so foolishly led his house 520 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:01,159 to these women. Remember Annie, he has missus Copeland's good word to support 521 00:39:01,159 --> 00:39:07,920 her integrity. White stood silent for a while. What sort of note do 522 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:12,239 you wish me to take to the inspector? He presently asked. You shall 523 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,400 read it as I write it, if you like, answered Loveday. She 524 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,719 took a correspondence card from her letter case, and with an indelible pencil, 525 00:39:20,039 --> 00:39:24,880 wrote as follows, mooton hall is threatened tonight. Concentrate attention there. L 526 00:39:25,079 --> 00:39:30,639 B. White read the words as she wrote them, with a curious expression 527 00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:35,400 passing over his handsome features. Yes, he said curtly, as before, 528 00:39:36,119 --> 00:39:38,679 I'll deliver that. I give you my word, but I'll bring back no 529 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:43,639 answer to you. I'll do no more spying for you. It's a trade 530 00:39:43,679 --> 00:39:47,719 that doesn't suit me. There's a straightforward way of doing straightforward work, and 531 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:52,480 I'll take that way no other to get my Annie out of that den. 532 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:57,199 He took the note, which she sealed and handed to him, and strode 533 00:39:57,199 --> 00:40:00,559 out of the room. Loveday, from the the window watched him mount his 534 00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:06,320 bicycle. Was it her fancy or did there pass a swift, furtive glance 535 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,840 of recognition between him and the hedger on the other side of the way. 536 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:14,880 As he rode out of the courtyard, Loveday seemed determined to make that hedger's 537 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:19,719 work easy for him. The short winter's day was closing in now, and 538 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:24,119 her room must consequently have been growing dim to outside observation. She lighted the 539 00:40:24,119 --> 00:40:29,639 gas chandelier, which hung from the ceiling, and still with blinds and curtains 540 00:40:29,679 --> 00:40:34,360 Undrawn, took her old place at the window, spread riding materials before her, 541 00:40:34,639 --> 00:40:38,679 and commenced a long and elaborate report to her chief at Lynch Court. 542 00:40:39,079 --> 00:40:44,039 About half an hour afterwards, as she threw a casual glance across the road, 543 00:40:44,519 --> 00:40:47,679 she saw that the hedger had disappeared, but that two ill looking tramps 544 00:40:47,679 --> 00:40:52,440 sat munching bread and cheese under the hedge to which his bill hook had done 545 00:40:52,519 --> 00:40:57,400 so little service. Evidently the intention was, one way or another, not 546 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:01,079 to lose sight of her so long as she remained in Red Hill. Meantime, 547 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:06,719 Whitey delivered Loveday's note to the inspector at Ryegate, and had disappeared on 548 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:12,400 his bicycle once more. Gunning read it without a change of expression. Then 549 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,199 he crossed the room to the fireplace and held the card as close to the 550 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:21,199 bars as he could without scorching it. I had a telegram from her this 551 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,360 morning, he explained to his confidential man, telling me to lie upon chemicals 552 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:30,400 and coals throughout the day, and that of course meant that she would write 553 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,679 to me an invisible ink. No doubt this message about Wooton Hall means nothing. 554 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,760 He broke off, abruptly, exclaiming, Ay, what's this As having 555 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:43,880 withdrawn the card from the fire, Loveday's real message stood out in bold, 556 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:49,519 clear characters between the lines of the false one. Thus it ran, North 557 00:41:49,599 --> 00:41:52,719 Cape will be attacked tonight. A desperate gang be prepared for a struggle. 558 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:59,559 Above all guard the electrical engine house. On no account attempt to communicate with 559 00:41:59,639 --> 00:42:04,159 me. I am so closely watched that any endeavor to do so may frustrate 560 00:42:04,199 --> 00:42:07,960 your chance of trapping the scoundrels. L B. That night, when the 561 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:14,360 moon went down behind Reigate Hill, an exciting scene was enacted at North Cape. 562 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,559 The Surrey Gazette, in its issue the following day, gave the subjoined 563 00:42:17,559 --> 00:42:23,920 account of it under the heading desperate encounter with burglars last night, North Cape. 564 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:29,199 The residence of mister Jamieson was a scene of an affray between the police 565 00:42:29,199 --> 00:42:34,960 and a desperate gang of burglars. North Cape is delighted throughout by electricity, 566 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,719 and the burglars, four in number to fight it in half, two being 567 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,880 told to enter and to rob the house, and two to remain at the 568 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:45,480 engine shed where the electricity is stored, so that at a given signal should 569 00:42:45,519 --> 00:42:50,599 need arise, the wires might be unswitched. The inmates of the house thrown 570 00:42:50,639 --> 00:42:54,960 into sudden darkness and confusion, and the escape of the marauders thereby facilitated. 571 00:42:55,480 --> 00:43:00,880 Mister Jamieson, however, had received timely warning from the police of the intended 572 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:05,079 attack, and he, with his two sons, all well armed, sat 573 00:43:05,159 --> 00:43:08,079 in darkness in the inner hall, awaiting the coming of the thieves. The 574 00:43:08,079 --> 00:43:13,239 police were stationed, some in the stables, some in out buildings nearer to 575 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:17,039 the house, and others in more distant parts of the grounds. The burglars 576 00:43:17,039 --> 00:43:21,760 affected their entrance by means of a ladder placed to a window of the servants 577 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:25,199 staircase, which leads straight down to the butler's pantry and to the safe where 578 00:43:25,199 --> 00:43:30,039 the silver is kept. The fellows, however, had no sooner got into 579 00:43:30,039 --> 00:43:35,280 the house than the police, issuing from their hiding place outside, mounted the 580 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,519 ladder after them, and thus cut off their retreat. Mister Jamison and his 581 00:43:38,599 --> 00:43:43,960 two sons at the same moment attacked them in front, and thus, overwhelmed 582 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,519 by numbers, the scoundrels were easily secured. It was at the engine house 583 00:43:47,559 --> 00:43:52,039 outside that the sharpest struggle took place. The thieves had forced open the door 584 00:43:52,039 --> 00:43:57,199 of this engine shed with their jimmies immediately on their arrival, under the very 585 00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:00,000 eyes of the police, who lay in ambush in the stable. And when 586 00:44:00,039 --> 00:44:05,119 one of the men captured in the house contrived the sound and alarm on his 587 00:44:05,159 --> 00:44:08,800 whistle, these outside watchers made a rush for the electrical jars in order to 588 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:14,840 unswitch the wires. Upon this the police closed with them, and a hand 589 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,880 to hand struggled followed. And if it had not been for the timely assistance 590 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:22,360 of mister Jamieson and his sons, who had fortunately conjectured that their presence here 591 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:27,000 might be useful, it is more than likely that one of the burglars, 592 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:31,000 a powerfully built man, would have escaped, the names of the captured men 593 00:44:31,079 --> 00:44:36,719 are John Murray, Arthur and George Lee, father and son, and a 594 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,679 man with so many aliases that it is difficult to know which is his real 595 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:45,719 name. The whole thing had been most cunningly and carefully planned. The elder 596 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:50,519 Lee, lately released from penal servitude for a similar offense, appears to have 597 00:44:50,559 --> 00:44:53,840 been prime mover in the affair. This man had, it seems, a 598 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:58,599 son and a daughter, who, through the kindness of friends, have been 599 00:44:58,639 --> 00:45:02,159 fairly well placed in life. The son and electrical engineers in London, the 600 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:07,639 daughter as nursery governess at Wooton Hall. Directly this man was released from Portland. 601 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:12,280 He seems to have found out his children and done his best to ruin 602 00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:16,000 them both. He was constantly at Wooton Hall, endeavoring to induce his daughter 603 00:45:16,079 --> 00:45:21,320 to act as an accomplice to a robbery of the house. This so worried 604 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:24,800 the girl that she threw up her situation and joined a sisterhood that had recently 605 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:30,079 been established in the neighborhood. Upon this Lee's thoughts turned in another direction. 606 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:35,320 He induced his son, who had saved the little money, to throw up 607 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:39,400 his work in London and join him in his disreputable career. The boy is 608 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,960 a handsome young fellow, but appears to have in him the makings of a 609 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:47,800 first class criminal. In his work as an electrical engineer, he had made 610 00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:52,119 the acquaintance of the man John Murray, who it is said has been rapidly 611 00:45:52,159 --> 00:45:57,280 going downhill of late. Murray was the owner of the house rented by the 612 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,960 sisterhood that miss Lee had joined. The idea evidently struck the brains of these 613 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:07,679 three scoundrels that this sisterhood, whose annecenes were a little mysterious, might be 614 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:12,280 utilized to draw off the attention of the police from themselves and from the especial 615 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,400 house in the neighborhood that they had planned to attack. With this end in 616 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:20,239 view, Murray made an application to the police to have the sisters watched, 617 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,360 and, still further, to give color to the suspicions he had endeavored to 618 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:29,679 set afloat concerning them, he and his confederates made feeble attempts at burglaries upon 619 00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:34,719 the houses at which the sisters had called begging for scraps. It is a 620 00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,239 matter for congratulation that the plot, from beginning to end, has thus been 621 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:43,679 successfully unearthed, and it is felt on all sides that great credit is due 622 00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:47,840 to inspect her Gunning and his skilled coadjutors for the vigilance and promptitude they have 623 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:54,119 displayed throughout the affair. Loveday read aloud this report with their feet on the 624 00:46:54,159 --> 00:46:59,239 fender of the lynch Court office. Accurate as far as it goes, she 625 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:02,599 said, as she laid down the paper. But we want to know a 626 00:47:02,599 --> 00:47:07,480 little more, said mister Dyer. In the first place, I would like 627 00:47:07,559 --> 00:47:13,079 to know what it was that diverted your suspicions from the unfortunate sisters. The 628 00:47:13,119 --> 00:47:16,320 way in which they handled the children, answered Loveday promptly. I have seen 629 00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:21,760 female criminals of all kinds handling children, and I have noticed that, although 630 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:25,280 they may occasionally even this is rare, treat them with a certain rough sort 631 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:30,199 of kindness, of tenderness. They are utterly incapable. Now, Sister Monica, 632 00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:34,719 I must admit, is not pleasant to look at. At the same 633 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,679 time, there was something absolutely beautiful in the way in which she lifted the 634 00:47:37,679 --> 00:47:42,719 little cripple out of the cart, put his tiny thin hand round her neck, 635 00:47:43,039 --> 00:47:46,000 and carried him into the house. By the way, I would like 636 00:47:46,079 --> 00:47:52,559 to ask some rabid physiognomist how he would account for sister Monica's repulsiveness of feature, 637 00:47:52,079 --> 00:47:58,440 as contrasted with young Lee's undoubted good looks heredity in this case throws no 638 00:47:58,559 --> 00:48:02,239 light on the matter. Another question, said mister Dyer, not paying much 639 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:07,880 heed to Loveday's digression, how was it you transferred your suspicions to John Murray. 640 00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:13,440 I did not do so immediately, although at the very first it had 641 00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:15,559 struck me as odd that he should be so anxious to do the work of 642 00:48:15,639 --> 00:48:21,639 the police for them. The chief thing I noticed concerning Murray on the first 643 00:48:21,639 --> 00:48:24,280 and only occasion on which I saw him, was that he had an accident 644 00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:29,280 with his bicycle. For in the right hand corner of his lamp glass there 645 00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,679 was a tiny star, and the lamp itself had a dent on the same 646 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:36,760 side, had also lost its hook, and was fastened to the machine by 647 00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:40,039 a bit of electric fuse. The next morning, as I was walking up 648 00:48:40,079 --> 00:48:45,400 the hill towards Northfield, I was accosted by a young man mounted on that 649 00:48:45,559 --> 00:48:50,039 self same bicycle, not a doubt of it, starring, glass, dent, 650 00:48:50,199 --> 00:48:54,559 fuse all three. Ah. That sounded an important keynote and led you 651 00:48:54,599 --> 00:49:00,760 to connect Murray and the younger Lee immediately. It did and of course also 652 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:04,000 at once gave the lie to his statement that he was a stranger in the 653 00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,880 place, and confirmed my opinion that there was nothing of the North countryman in 654 00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:13,239 his accent. Other details in his manner and appearance gave rise to other suspicions. 655 00:49:14,119 --> 00:49:17,440 For instance, he called himself a press reporter by profession, and his 656 00:49:17,519 --> 00:49:22,800 hands were coarse and grimy, as only a mechanics could be. He said 657 00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,199 he was a bit of a literary man. But the Tennyson that showed so 658 00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:30,079 obtrusively from his pocket was new, and in parts uncut, and totally unlike 659 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:36,519 the well thumbed volume of the literary Student. Finally, when he tried and 660 00:49:36,559 --> 00:49:39,559 failed to put my latch key into his waistcoat pocket, I saw the reason 661 00:49:39,639 --> 00:49:44,400 lay in the fact that the pocket was already accompanied by a soft coil of 662 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:49,119 electric fuse, the end of which protruded. Now. An electric fuse is 663 00:49:49,159 --> 00:49:52,519 what an electrical engineer might almost unconsciously carry about with him, it is so 664 00:49:52,679 --> 00:49:57,280 essential a part of his working tools. But it is a thing that a 665 00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:02,719 literary man or a press reporter could have no possible use for exactly exactly, 666 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,320 And it was no doubt that bit of electric fuse that turned your thoughts to 667 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:13,119 the one house in the neighborhood lighted by electricity, and suggested to your mind 668 00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:19,199 the possibility of electrical engineers turning your talents to account in that direction. Now, 669 00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:22,320 will you tell me what, at that stage of your day's work induced 670 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:27,159 you to wired to gunning that you would bring your invisible ink bottle into use. 671 00:50:28,639 --> 00:50:31,320 That was simply a matter of precaution. It did not compel me to 672 00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:37,280 the use of invisible ink if I saw other safe methods of communication. I 673 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,519 felt myself being hemmed in all sides with spies, and I could not tell 674 00:50:40,599 --> 00:50:45,559 what emergency might arise. I don't think I have ever had a more difficult 675 00:50:45,559 --> 00:50:50,079 game to play. As I walked and talked with a young fellow up the 676 00:50:50,159 --> 00:50:52,559 hill, it became clear to me that if I wished to do my work, 677 00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:57,320 I must lull the suspicions of the gang, and seemed to walk into 678 00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:01,440 their trap. I saw by the persistent way in which Wooton Hall was forced 679 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:05,840 on my notice, that it was wished to fix my suspicions. There, 680 00:51:07,159 --> 00:51:10,280 I, accordingly to all appearance, did so, and allowed the fellows to 681 00:51:10,320 --> 00:51:15,360 think they were making a fool of me. Ha ha capital that the biter 682 00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:21,559 bit with a vengeance splendid idea to make that young rascal himself deliver the letter 683 00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:25,039 that was to land him and his pals in jail, and all the time 684 00:51:25,119 --> 00:51:29,239 laughing in his sleeve and thinking what a fool he was making of you. 685 00:51:29,599 --> 00:51:34,159 Ha ha ha, And mister Dyer made the office ring again with his merriment. 686 00:51:35,639 --> 00:51:38,199 The only person one is at all sorry for in this affair is poor 687 00:51:38,239 --> 00:51:44,199 little sister Anna, said Loveday pityingly. And yet perhaps all things considered, 688 00:51:44,679 --> 00:51:49,079 after her sorry experience of life, she may not be so badly placed in 689 00:51:49,119 --> 00:51:54,039 a sisterhood where practical Christianity, not religious hysterics, is the one and only 690 00:51:54,159 --> 00:51:59,360 rule of the order. End of the Red Hill Sisterhood.